Remembering William F. Buckley, Jr.

I was about as unaligned with his political views as one could possibly be but had the privilege of working with him on several occasions as well as sharing a wine-laden lunch that I will never forget.

And despite our differing views I found him to be extremely tolerant of what I thought. This is in stark contrast to today's climate where if you disagree with someone you're viewed to be a person with serious moral or intellectual deficiencies.

When I heard of his passing today I recalled the several times he wrote articles for Yachting where I was editor at the time. When he first called to pitch a story about a sailing trip to the Med I at first thought it was a prank. (I'm sure this must happen to many people like him.) I agreed to the article and several weeks later he brought his laptop to our office, added a few key sentences based on some back issues in our library and then printed out the article. (While he was very much ahead of his time in terms of word processing I was struck but how un productive it was to print the article out and have us re-key it.) Nevertheless, the article made it to print.

However, it didn't happen without a stern rebuke. During the final editing process one word was changed and Buckley called up all steamed that we had completely ruined the story. It didn't seem like that big a deal at the time but seeing that I was at a disadvantage arguing about words with William F. Buckley I apologized in a letter back to him. Several days later he faxed back the letter with a note saying that the whole argument was stupid and let's forget about it.

This all led to a lunch at his house in Stamford that was one of the most fascinating I've ever had. Fearful he would discover my left-wing tendencies I tried to steer the conversation to just sailing and only sailing. Still, after copious amounts of wine and with photos of Nixon, Kissinger and Reagan hanging over my head he did discover my views and while I am absolutely positive I had no influence on him I was duly impressed about how tolerant and gracious he was about my opinions.

After lunch and more wine I realized I needed to crawl home and sleep all this off. He, on the other hand, wandered off to his study to complete a speech he was writing for an appearance at Yale that evening.

Why a byline strike?

Reporters at the Honolulu Advertiser recently conducted a byline strike to protest their lack of a contract. (Full report here.)

I've never understood the logic of doing this. It's commonly done and for the life of me can't figure out why this will convince management to pay reporters more. That's because I have a strong suspicion that readers don't care who the writer is. In some cases they might recognize the name of the reporter. In virtually none, I am willing to bet, does the byline add any value.

Instead, how about withholding something management or the readers find of value? How about the crossword puzzle, the comics or the school lunch schedule. Leave those out and I promise you will get the reader's attention.

Why journalists are in serious trouble

Mark Potts posted this a while back but I have to admit that I am one of those who thought the same thing he did when I saw this exchange between Sam Zell and a journalist at the Orlando Sentinel. (Read full post here.)

There's nothing I can really add to Mark's post other than agree with it and hope to bring it more attention.

If you watch the video of Zell muttering "fuck you" after responding to an Orlando Sentinel photog's insistent questions about journalistic quality and think, "Right on, Sam," you're a Recovering Journalist.

If you don't, you're still stuck in denial, a state of mind that has no idea that journalism is a business, doesn't get that it matters (far) more what readers think about stories than what journalists think of them, pines for the extremely bygone days when newspapers dominated the news universe—and is walking straight off a cliff clinging firmly to all of those romantic, noble but no longer realistic notions. Buh-bye. Nice working with you. You're toast.

Too many sites to check

While I've long believed that sites such as Facebook will prove successful in some sort of fashion, I've also long felt that there are too many such sites and eventually they will have to figure out a way for all of them to work with each other or there will be consolidation.

The news that Facebook now accepts news feeds from other sites is a step in that direction. (Full report here.) However, note that Facebook isn't allowing other sites to capture its updates.

Still on my wish list -- a way for Facebook and other sites to give me multiple personas. In my real life I act differently in different settings and share different info. At work I don't share pictures of my vacation but I do have photos of my children on my desk. Facebook, and other sites, are one big pile of everything and includes information from one persona I may not want to share with others. In a perfect world I would have three personas: work, family and friends. With each bit of info I add I would be able to designate if it's for one of those three personas or all three.

Oxymoron of the Week

Sent to you by Charlie via Google Reader:

Oxymoron of the Week

via The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs by Steve on 1/22/08

From eWeek: The 25 Most Influential People at IBM. I mean, they have to be kidding, right? The slideshow depicts a lineup of IBM lifers. It looks like an ad for Depends. Or Polident. Nobody in the entire industry has ever heard of any of these guys. Number 10 on the list is so influential that eWeek couldn't find a photo for him. Yeah. He's a big swinging dick all right. Trust me, these old bastards are lucky if they can influence their bladders to sneak a little pee past their swollen prostates.

Meanwhile in other IBM news I've got my own little bone to pick with the Original Borg. Last week the retards who do marketing for Lotus Notes, IBM's ass-ugly email system, went around bragging that they were about to announce a version of Notes that runs on iPhone. Supposedly they were going to announce this at their big LotusFear conference this week.

Well that put me through the fucking roof. As I pointed out to my guys last week, What the fuck are these inbred morons doing announcing something to do with iPhone without clearing it with us first? Shut the motherfuckers down. Like, now. And who the fuck ever said they could put their software on my Jesus phone in the first place? Putting Notes on iPhone is like getting out a piece of exquisite Wedgwood china and using it to serve a steaming pile of dog shit. Have you ever seen Notes? It's not software, it's a form of punishment. Companies that use Notes have to staff not only a help desk but also a suicide prevention center -- it's that bad. Even the poor bastards at IBM, who are forced to use it, do nothing but complain.

So a bunch of our ninjas flew out to Cambridge and rounded up these morons from Lotus marketing and bitch-slapped them until they cried for mercy. Today the Big Brains at Lotus PR put out a statement saying the whole Notes-on-iPhone claim was just a bad dream, and Notes for iPhone is not ready yet. Real slick.

Buried down low in the latest story, however, is a real gem of a quote: "Kevin McIsaac, an analyst at research firm IBRS, said he's not sure Lotus Notes will have a large impact on enterprise adoption of the device. `I can't really imagine someone who's really hip and cool--like an iPhone user--wanting to use Lotus Notes,' he said."

Amen to that, my brother.

Meanwhile, in the "Definition of Sad" category, check this out -- some marketing fuckwit from Lotus is live blogging the Lotus conference. Big news like this:

7:52 AM A shoutout to Colleen Campbell, Lotus Marketing program director, sitting next to me here in the second row while Sandra Marcus is dancing in front of me! Is this a conference or a party?!?!


I know, right?!?! It's amazing!!!!????!?!?!?! It's not even 8 in the morning and we are rockin it!?!?! We r Lotus n we r 2 kewl!?!

What really saddens me, however, is the idea that somewhere out in some forlorn sad corner of the world someone is actually following this live blog and actually cares what Lotus announces and maybe even wishes he could be there in Orlando to experience the rock concert excitement in person.

To those people I say this: I will pray for your souls.

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What should Roger do?

In a previous life I would have watched the unfolding Roger Clemens soap opera (meltdown?) with a certain amount of glee. After all, stories like this sell newspapers and are fun to write.

But in my current life I look at such situations differently and wonder aloud -- what would I have done if he were my client?

Many of the experts queried have agreed that you can't do much worse than Clemens has done in response to the Mitchell Report which said his trainer injected him with steroids. Most agree that Clemens, if not guilty of such behavior, should have issued a quick and forceful denial, sued the trainer -- Brian McNamee -- who accused him and then kept quiet until the courts took over. If asked for comment he would refuse to talk since the case was in litigation.

Instead, Clemens has taken what was a PR issue and turned it into a potential legal issue. He now runs the risk of perjuring himself. Plus he recorded a phone conversation with Brian McNamee without his knowledge.

But that's all hindsight. So I recently wondered what I would do if Roger Clemens called.

First, he needs to admit he needs help. What made him good on the pitcher's mound is hurting him now. He is determined (stubborn?) and doesn't seem to want to listen to others. That has to change immediately.

I'd tell him that if the report is true, come clean right now. It's not too late to make an admission and make it genuine. America is amazingly forgiving but the longer Clemens waits, the worse it gets. And then at some point it passes a point of no return. (Case in point -- Pete Rose. He finally admitted to gambling but it was years after the first accusation and it didn't come across as heartfelt.)

If the story is false then he needs to say nothing more until he testifies before Congress under oath. He then has to use that testimony as proof he's not lying. He also then needs to pursue his libel suit against McNamee with vigor and determination. A verdict in Clemens' favor will go a long way in convincing people he's not lying.

There will still be doubters but the longer he waits the more worse it will get.

Is this really news?

Jim O'Shea is fired as editor of the LA Times and the amount of coverage it sparks is staggering. And that, in my view, highlights one of the main problems with newspapers today.

Mark Potts, a former colleague at our college paper, writes that O'Shea's departure was inevitable and that it showcases how out of touch many old-time journalists are. I couldn't agree more. (Click here for full post.)

But there's another aspect to this that backs up Mark's point (and mine.) It's the amount of coverage of this event in the papers. Newspapers (and magazines) have got to start thinking about what readers really want to know about. And my strong guess is that few people care about the editor of the LA Times getting fired over refusing to make budget cuts.

If O'Shea was the head of any other business unit that lost as many customers (readers) as he did, news of his departure would hardly warrant a few column inches. Furthermore, if after he was told to leave he got up in front of all the employees and defended himself despite dramatic loss of revenues and customers, people would think he had a warped sense of reality.